Cells Are Searched After Disturbances At a Prison Upstate

ALBANY, April 8—A cell‐bycell search of the nearby Coxsackie Correctional Facility was under way today following two overnight incidents that resulted in about 80 inmates being tear‐gassed.

A spokesman for the prison, situated in West Coxsackie in Greene County, said guards first used the gas to quell a disturbance in a 40‐man cellblock about 8:45 P.M. yesterdays. A number of windows were broken, he said, and damage to toilet facilities in cells was reported.

An hour later, a similar disturbance broke out in another cellblock, also containing about 40 inmates. Gas was again used to restore order.

This morning, a single prisoner housed in an isolation cell began shouting and threatening guards, the spokesman said, and again gas was used.

Superintendent Harry Fritz said the incident appeared unrelated to a brief “strike” Thursday morning by inmates assigned to kitchen detail. Breakfast was held up for about an hour, but work was resumed when Mr. Fritz agreed to discuss what he called grievances relating to daily wages, which range from 25 to 40 cents.

Normal operations of the institute were curtailed today while guards searched all cells for contraband, especially pieces of glass from the broken window.

Coxsackie is a mediumsecurity facility housing male offenders between th ages of 17 and 21.

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A version of this archives appears in print on April 9, 1972, on Page 57 of the New York edition with the headline: Cells Are Searched After Disturbances At a Prison Upstate. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe